wind in the dark night

Chapter 231 Another Mission
Eight o'clock in the morning.

The headquarters of the Binjiang Detachment in Kaoshantun.

Zhang Zhaolin sat at the table and wrote the IOU stroke by stroke: I am temporarily borrowing 2,000 kilograms of sorghum rice from Liu Wanchun of Liujiabao Village to use as military rations. The government will return it after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

Tiezhu brought the medicine and put it on the table: "Political Commissar, the medicine is ready, drink it while it's hot."

After signing, Zhang Zhaolin handed the IOU to Tiezhu: "Take a few people with you, harness the cart, and go to Liujiabao Village to get the grain back. When you get there, be polite to them. We are borrowing grain, so we should have a lending attitude."

Tiezhu was not convinced: "Political Commissar, haven't you heard that more than half of the land in Liujiabao Village belongs to Liu Wanchun's family? He is the landlord who should be overthrown. Why should we be polite to such a person?"

Zhang Zhaolin smiled and said, "Tiezhu, you are right. Liu Wanchun is indeed a wealthy landlord, but he is different from other wealthy landlords. Every time we borrow money and grain, he agrees very readily, which shows that he still supports us. If you overthrow such a person, we will lose the trust of the people..."

At this time, the guard came in and reported: "Political Commissar Zhang, there is a man named Dong Cheng outside, who said he wants to see you for something urgent."

Dong Cheng is Yang Feng's pseudonym.

Zhang Zhaolin immediately said, "Tiezhu, go and meet him and bring him in through the corner gate."

Tiezhu agreed and quickly walked out of the house.

After a while, under the guidance of Tiezhu, the dusty Yang Feng came to the team headquarters. Seeing Zhang Zhaolin holding the medicine bowl and preparing to drink it, Yang Feng hurriedly stopped him: "Don't drink it, the medicine is poisonous!"

Zhang Zhaolin was stunned: "Poisonous?"

Yang Feng said: "When Tiezhu passed the checkpoint, there were people from the secret service department present, and they personally checked the items. I suspect that he took the opportunity of the inspection to secretly poison the medicine!"

Zhang Zhaolin said: "But I drank two bowls of medicine yesterday. If it was poisonous, how come I am fine?"

Yang Feng thought for a moment and said, "That is to say, the enemy was worried that the dosage of poison was not enough, so they only poisoned one of the packets of medicine. The packet you drank happened to not contain poison. Political Commissar Zhang, for the sake of safety, don't drink the rest of the Chinese medicine."

Zhang Zhaolin said, "Old Yang, you came here today just to tell me this?"

Yang Feng briefly introduced the situation, and then said: "It's urgent, the team must move immediately. If the intelligence is true, the enemy should be on the way!"

Zhang Zhaolin nodded, then turned to ask Tiezhu: "Where is Captain Zhou?"

Tiezhu said: "The new recruits are doing shooting training. Captain Zhou went with them. They should be in the threshing ground..."

"Tell him to come back immediately!"

"Yes!"

"Commander!"

The messenger was on standby at all times. When he heard the political commissar calling him, he stepped forward and said, "Yes!"

Zhang Zhaolin said: "Notify all companies and platoons to pack up and gather at the threshing ground!"

The messenger ran to convey the order.

The mission has been completed, there is no need for Yang Feng to stay. He must leave Kaoshantun as soon as possible, and he has to take a detour. If he encounters the Japanese and puppet troops on the way, it is hard to say whether there will be any accidents.

After seeing Yang Feng off, Zhang Zhaolin picked up the medicine bowl, looked at it, then poured it on the ground.

Zhou Yi, the captain of the Binjiang detachment, happened to come in and was surprised to see this scene: "Political Commissar Zhang, why did the medicine fall through?"

Zhang Zhaolin sat down and repeated Yang Feng's words, then said, "Fortunately, Old Yang arrived in time. If he had been poisoned to death by the enemy without knowing the reason, his death would have been meaningless."

Zhou Yi said: "Old Yang is just guessing, maybe he is overthinking it?"

Zhang Zhaolin shook his head slightly. "For this kind of thing, it's better to believe it than not. Old Yang is an old man and has a lot of experience in this area. What he suspects is probably right."

Zhou Yi frowned, "We will be in the mountains for at least ten days or half a month this time. If we throw away all these medicines, what will we do with your illness?" Zhang Zhaolin smiled, "Arthritis won't kill you. You can get through it if you grit your teeth."

"Is that okay?"

"There's nothing I can do. I can't test the drug on myself, right?"

“…I have an idea.”

"any solution?"

"Every time before you take the medicine, find a living thing to test it and let it drink it first. If it is fine, it means the medicine is not poisonous. This way, you can ensure safety without delaying the treatment of your illness."

"That's a good idea. Where can we find living things?"

"The Li family in the east of the village has a sheep. Let's borrow it first and return it to him later."

Zhang Zhaolin hesitated for a moment, then said, "That's fine. But I can't borrow the sheep for free. I'll pay fifty cents a day, just consider it as rent."

Zhou Yi smiled and said, "No wonder the villagers all said that no one can write the IOU for the Anti-Japanese United Army except Political Commissar Zhang. Why? Because Political Commissar Zhang is a sincere man who keeps his word and always keeps his word!"

Zhang Zhaolin said with emotion: "If the villagers hadn't informed us some time ago, who would have thought that the peddler walking around the streets was actually a spy sent by the enemy. So, I always tell you, no matter what, don't fool the people. If you fool the people, the people will fool you. Who benefits from fooling people? The enemy benefits!"

The messenger trotted into the room, stood at attention and saluted: "Report to Political Commissar Zhang and Captain Zhou, the troops have been assembled, please give instructions!"

"ready to go!"

"Yes!"

……

Nine o'clock in the morning.

Qi Yue led his men to Kaoshantun and arrived at the Binjiang Detachment headquarters first.

There was an empty bowl on the table that Zhao Zhenhai had not had time to take away. He picked it up and smelled it, and a look of joy appeared on his face. He thought to himself that this meant that Zhang Zhaolin had no suspicions, and that the packet of poisoned Chinese medicine would be consumed by him sooner or later.

Qi Yue observed Zhao Zhenhai's words and expressions and noticed his abnormality - the enemies had all run away, what was there to be happy about?

At this time, there was a noise outside the yard.

A spy came in hurriedly to report: "Deputy Captain Qi, the police brigade has arrived. The first, third and fourth squadrons, together with the people of the Hosokawa regiment, are preparing to go into the mountains to hunt down the anti-bandits."

Qi Yue asked: "Where is Captain Ning?"

"I'll be right there."

"Any news from Moon Bubble?"

"The Anguo Army and the bandits have been engaged in a firefight. I estimate that the battle is almost over..."

As they were talking, Ning Zhiyuan walked in.

Qi Yue stepped forward and said, "We are a step late. The anti-bandit group withdrew early. It seems that they got the news of this punitive operation."

Ning Zhiyuan looked around and said slowly, "There are 1,500 to 1,600 people involved in the encirclement and suppression. It's hard to say whether there are spies hiding among them. It's not surprising that they got the news. The key lies in the time of the leak. I just asked in the village, and the anti-bandit retreat time is about 8:30. It's still not too late to chase them now."

"Should we go into the mountains?"

"No, we have another mission!"

(End of this chapter)